#weekendreads

Still plugging away at Snow Crash for #ClassicLSFBC !

The other two are squarely in my comfort zone/favorite genre : Mystery. Both are great in their own respective ways.

Thanks for the tag @Eggs 😊

#WondrousWednesday

1. Probably because of the #NancyDrewBR but I am having flashbacks to excitedly scanning the library shelves for a Nancy Drew mystery I‘d not yet read.

2. It‘s pretty evenly split between library borrows and thrifted/used/new books.

3. I just started the tagged book yesterday.

Only two books this weekend…both are rather slow going. I have houseguests this coming week, so not much time to read anyway. I‘ve got cleaning to do! 🧹🧽🧺🧼

#weekendreads

I read this as part of my decades long quest to read all the books from the RH Best 100 of the 20th century https://sites.prh.com/modern-library-top-100 .

As always with this kind of project, there‘re hits and misses and this was a miss. Certainly fantastic descriptive writing, but little plot and quirk without any heart. I did not find it funny. Cheever was really a short story writer and a few of the chapters could have stood alone as such.

Found this picture on a blog showing book covers with women running away from houses. Check it out: https://fantasy-ink.blogspot.com/2010/11/gothic-romance-covers.html .

I‘m sorry (not sorry) to be a curmudgeon-maybe it‘s all the Nancy Drew I‘ve been reading, but I found the mystery to be blindingly obvious and the hero & heroine to be about interesting as a paper bag & both too stupid to find their way out of one. 🙊

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

I‘ve got these three on deck for this weekend. The Clue in the Diary is for the #NancyDrewBR , The Wapshot Chronicle is one of my May #Roll100 picks, and Zone One is part of my ongoing (never ending) project to read what I own! All three are also for the #AwesomeApril readathon. 😃 #weekendreads

Hey party people! May is the month we read the next #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub book. We‘re delving in into our FIRST MYSTERY 👻 from Dean Street Press.

I‘m excited to try something new. As usual, the rules are, there are no rules! Read at your own pace and if you blurb or review on Litsy, tag the group so we can share.

A few questions about the book for those who have thoughts!

Q3: While clearly a product of the Cold War, the book ends on a hopeful note for humankind. This differs in its positive outlook from some other books from the same era. Did you find this a realistic outcome?

#ClassicLSFBC

A few questions about the book for those who have thoughts!

Q2: What did you think about Enoch‘s “relationship” with David and/or Mary? I was hoping Mary might somehow manifest and become his companion - alleviate his loneliness. 🤞

#ClassicLSFBC

A few questions about the book for those who have thoughts!

Q1: How do you think Enoch‘s experience as a soldier and veteran influenced his actions and attitudes as station master, if at all?

#ClassicLSFBC

I did it! I started this trilogy in 2016 and completely stalled on reading the third one. But this month I re-read the first two and FINALLY read the third book and it was great. Some complain about all the emoting that happens, but I loved it. I love that it is open ended. That no one has all the answers, least of all Breq. I love her platonic relationship with Seivarden and her parental one with Tisarwat. Great space opera. 🚀❤️ #SeriesLove24

My first foray into Maggie Nelson. This is a memoir of Nelson‘s life during which her aunt‘s alleged murderer was brought to trial 40 years after the crime. Nelson never knew her aunt, but this is also about Nelson‘s childhood and how her mother was affected by the crime and passed that on to her own children; about her father and his early death, about appropriating the lives of others for the sake of art… Very interesting and thoughtful.

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

American Howard Campbell is brought up on charges of war crimes as a Nazi propagandist, 15 years after the war ended. Is he guilty or was he a pawn? In classic absurdist Vonnegut fashion, Campbell becomes a hero for US white supremacy groups. It‘s been a while since I read any Vonnegut, but this one felt more somber and realistic compared to others I‘ve read.

Kicking off the #AwesomeApril readathon today by hopefully finishing these two books this weekend. After that, who knows? I‘ve got plenty of group reads starting in May - #HashtagBrigade #ClassicLSFBC #LitsySciFiBC #NancyDrewBR & #FurrowedMiddleBrowClub - as well as my #Roll100 and #TBRTarot picks. So much great stuff to choose from! 😃

#weekendreads

📚Continuing with Rebecca for #PemberLittens #HashtagBrigade

📚Trying my first Maggie Nelson with some trepidation

📚My last #Roll100 for April is the next Aubrey/Maturin book in the series

📚Finally picking up Vonnegut again after almost five years.

Fascinating premise, but the execution was clunky - dialogue heavy instead of actually showing events, which made it seem longer than it was. Still fascinating considering it was published in 1937. In this envisioned future world domination is split between Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan. Women are treated as cattle, good only for bearing children. Homosexuality among men is the norm and Hitler is worshipped as 7 foot tall, blond Aryan god.

@BarbaraBB Saw this on Goodreads and wanted to share this with you Barbara. Seems like J. R. Lennon is a stand up kinda guy! 👍

Here are my nominations for #CampLitsy24

1. Mother Doll because I admired Apekina‘s debut
2. Piglet because I love a good “disaster woman narrative” TM pending
3. You Dreamed of Empires because I loved “Sudden Death” by Enrigue
4. I Love You So Much It‘s Killing Us Both because I love a good novel about female friendship and coming of age.

Horowitz‘ Hawthorn series, in which the author is a character, is fun fluff. In each book, Tony the character and the reader learn a little bit more about the reclusive detective. In this one, Tony is accused of murdering a critic who gave his play a bad review and while he was hoping to cut ties with Hawthorn, now he desperately needs his help to prove his innocence.

This is what I‘ve got on tap this weekend. I‘m enjoying them all! 👍

#weekendreads

#WondrousWednesday

Thank you for the tag @Eggs 😊

1. 🔪💀🕵️‍♀️for the tagged book

2. I‘m looking forward to the next Jackson Brodie novel “Death at the Sign of the Rook” by Kate Atkinson

3. I recently recommended “The Calculating Stars” by Mary Robinette Kowal to a friend. I think she‘d appreciate its feminist and scientific slant.

I preordered the newest Scarlett Thomas. I‘ve not read all her books, but I want to become a completist of her adult fiction at least.

This was a very entertaining and informative travel book along the lines of Bill Bryson or Tony Horowitz. Perrottet and his girlfriend Lesley travel along the same route as Roman tourists would have done during the Pax Romana era which made such journeys relatively safe. From Rome to Naples to Greece to Turkey and finally Egypt. Occasionally dated in language and attitudes, despite being published only 20 years ago.

This is a story of two women in Ghana and their different trajectories due their different familial situations. Akorfa and Selasie are cousins and the best of friends as children, but events eventually separate them. As with Medie‘s debut, the novel gives the reader insight into Ghanaian family life and the conflicting pressures and expectations placed upon women within that society.

All Litsy group reads this #weekendreads

Rebecca for #PemberLittens #Hashtagbrigade

The Secret of Red Gate Farm for #NancyDrewBR

Way Station for #ClassicLSFBC

Enjoying them all! 👍

Thank you for the tag @Eggs and @Read4life 😊

#WondrousWednesday

🌸 Hardcover
🌸 Fiction
🌸 Historical
🌸 Classic
🌸 Coffee
🌸 Enjoy both, but if forced to choose-physical
🌸 Enjoy both, but if forced to choose- print

#Two4Tuesday

Thank you for the tag @Read4life 😊

1. I‘m pretty excited to reread the first two Radch Empire novels as prep to FINALLY finish the trilogy and read Ancillary Mercy.

2. I have preordered Scarlett Thomas‘ new title “The Sleepwalkers” and Kate Atkinson‘s next Jackson Brodie novel “Death at the Sign of the Rook”.

This is the edition that I will be reading from for the April #PemberLittens #HashtagBrigade pick. It is pretty but it‘s poorly bound, unfortunately - too tight to read comfortably, so buyers beware of Virago naked hardbacks.

Super excited to start a slew of new books now that I‘m finally free of The Brothers Karamazov.

I‘m getting an early start on the next #HashtagBrigade book for April which is a re-read for me: Rebecca.

Nightbloom will probably be the only Women‘s Prize listed book I manage. I really liked her debut.

The other two are my #Roll100 picks for April. Route 66 AD I‘ve owned for maybe 20 years? It‘s about time!

#weekendreads

The chicken really wanted to be in the shot. 🐓

This novel tried my patience but ultimately was a rewarding read. Very Russian and histrionic at times; indulgent in the way of many European 19th century novels with its digressions. A story about four brothers and their awful father, but also a long winded treatise on morality and how to live righteously in an imperfect world.

#TheBros #HashtagBrigade #Pemberlittens

My 3rd completed book for #BooksinBloom 🌸

This was a solid start to a long running procedural series set in Scotland. The gruff cop who doesn‘t play by the rules. Cliched but still enjoyable, for what it is. A copy cat serial killer and a case that still haunts DCI Logan. Very fast paced and tense.

This is also a #BlameitonLitsy book. I‘d never heard of the author or series until @TheSpineView and @Andrew65 posted about it.

Thanks for the tag @dabbe 😊 #TLT

I‘m not sure I‘ve read too many novellas. I generally prefer long books, but sometimes 150 pages or so is the perfect length. Top of my head:

1. A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
2. Passing by Nella Larsson
3. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

This was at times amusing but overall just OK for me. It was a bit of a rom com / family drama, when retired George, who has likely always suffered from undiagnosed anxiety, really starts to lose his grip. Meanwhile, his daughter is marrying a man her family feels is beneath her, his wife is having an affair (though he doesn‘t know it yet) and his gay son is having trouble integrating his love life with his family life. #BooksinBloom 2nd book✔️

Thanks for the tag @The_Penniless_Author 🙏

1. I think young me would have liked to be a flying horse.

2. The tagged book has fairies, which I don‘t want to be because they‘re kinda mean. 🧚

#Two4Tuesday

#LitsyTOB24 First completed book for #BooksinBloom

I liked this a lot and am glad I re-read 1984 as preparation. The book gives Julia a backstory and interesting insight and contrasts to Winston Smith without detracting from its source material. Occasionally a little longer than it needed to be.

For those #NancyDrewBR #LittenDetectives keeping count every time she gets coshed on the noggin! 😂😂😂

This is my TBR for the readathon #BooksinBloom hosted by @Catsandbooks which runs from today to next week Friday! Hopefully I will finish all of them by then with maybe the exception of #TheBros . 😬🤭

Anna and her grown daughters must downsize and leave their upper middle class London lifestyle. She decides to take a small cottage near to where she grew up in Scotland. Spoiled Helen is outraged and weak willed Rosalie agrees. Only bookish Jane sees the practicality of it. The first half of the book is delightful. The second half veers off into a predictable and slightly squicky direction. Still, overall enjoyable. #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

#NancyDrewBR

“That‘s why I think they won‘t do it again”, Nancy replied. Probably they‘ll pick on a different place. Good luck! If you run into trouble, yell!”

Sound advice learned from Carson Drew in the last book!!!🙄😂 Just scream really loud when you‘re in danger ‼️

#weekendreads

1984 re-read as prep for Julia, still chugging along with #TheBros , the remaining three are for pure pleasure (and for #Roll100 , #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub , and #NancyDrewBR ! )

This is probably the last #LitsyToB24 entry I‘ll manage before the voting starts. I liked it, though it was more violent and brutal than I expected. I didn‘t realize it was about a series killer. It felt overstuffed with issues that Sheriff Crown is working through and the plotting was occasionally awkward IMO. Titus Crown is a great character, though. That‘s where I think Cosby excels. This could easily been the start of a series.

Spent the weekend in San Luis Obispo with a friend. We went to the local annual library book sale, naturally, and I picked up a few gems. 😃 The vintage Modern Library editions were tempting, but I unfortunately didn‘t find any titles that appealed.

Hiya #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub friends! It‘s time for our next bi-monthly read, this time a title by fan favorite D.E. Stevenson. I‘ve only read her Miss Buncle books and a previous group read “The English Air”. I‘m looking forward to diving in. As usual, read at your own pace, post at will, and tag the group if you do! 😃

#LitsyTOB24

While elements of the plot felt maybe a little by the numbers, I really liked the two main characters and was particularly invested in their fates. Two women fall in love in a small Kentucky college town in the 1950s. Unless one was Gertrude Stein or Rock Hudson, you can imagine at the obstacles faced by homosexuals in this era.

#LitsyToB24

A soft pick. The story was great and while the narrator, could be annoying, she does show growth by the end. I didn‘t mind the footnotes. I think Mia is also neurodivergent and this helped demonstrate it. But for such a propelling plot (a dad goes missing and the only witness is his severely, non-speaking autistic son), it was too long and I really disliked the foreshadowing - just tell the story- the reader can figure out the rest.

#weekendreads

Hoping to wrap up my two #LitsyToB24 books this weekend. Still plugging away at my #ClassicLSFBF but considering DNFing it. 🫢 Continuing with #TheBros chapter a day read along. 👍

I ended liking this more than initially expected. It‘s a gentle novel, occasionally funny, but it lacks focus. In 1991, Emily moves to NYC after college, makes friends, loses friends, gets a job, etc. In 2005, Emily is married with a demanding job, a small child & some of her 90s past popping back up. Next to the other two coming of age stories in the #LitsyToB24 it doesn‘t stand a chance.

#52BookClub24 Chapters have dates
#pop24 coming of age

Beautiful cover but the story telling style was not for me. I know people IRL who have cut themselves off from their family as well as those who have been abandoned by family, and yet no one‘s behavior felt real to me here. And there was far too much repetition in my opinion. The Little Women retelling aspects were interesting, however.

#LitsyToB24
#52BookClub24 Includes a wedding
#pop24 at least 3 PoV

#weekendreads

I‘m kind of hating both my #LitsyToB24 books and Dhalgren is a bit of a chore. ☹️ And #TheBros is only a chapter a day. Hopefully my reading pleasure will pick up soon. 🤞

Two novellas and three short stories, each set in a different African country; all are devastating and heartbreaking. 💔 Most feature children. This is fiction, but we know it is rooted in truth: exploitation, religious violence, ethnic conflict, poverty, despair.

#The52BookClub24 Sticker on cover (Oprah)
#Pop24 Title complete sentence
#TBRtarot (January) YOU in title
#Roll100 February